Summary:

The film Takers, hopes to offer audiences an exciting twist on the heist film genre. With an interesting cast and an appealing look, people aren’t quite sure what to expect from it. Now that I’ve seen it, I can safely say there is certainly a unique style and flair to it all and in the end, it may just be one of the best heist films I’ve seen in a while.

Takers follows five bank robbers (Paul Walker, Idris Elba, Hayden Christensen, Michael Ealy and Chris Brown). The group has had some good luck lately and as the film opens, we see them executing yet another successful heist.

Our suave group of thieves celebrate their latest victory and they all head off to do their own thing, until the next heist. Enter Ghost (Tip Harris). Ghost has just been freed from jail and he wants back into the game. Ghost used to work with the aforementioned crew until he got caught during a heist back in 2004.

While the gang is skeptical of Ghost’s true motives at first, they decide to let him back in. He tells them about a heist that may be their biggest score yet, an armored car robbery that could bring them $25 million. It won’t be easy though. Hot on their trail are detective Welles (Matt Dillon) and his partner Eddie (Jay Hernandez) who are investigating the heist that we saw at the start of the film. As tension builds and the stakes are raised, we know that this isn’t going to be a walk in the park.

Like most Sony titles these days, Takers looks and sounds pretty great on Blu-Ray. The film’s undeniably appealing style transfers over well and Luessenhop’s inspired directing looks great. Bold colours and excellent lighting are found throughout. Detail impresses the whole way thorough and skin tones are never less than perfect. It’s also a very sharp transfer with superb clarity. This Blu-Ray turns an already appealing film, into pure eye candy.

Audio doesn’t disappoint either as it perfectly accompanies the scope of the film. Music is loud and encompassing and helps to engage the viewer while sound effects during the action set pieces like gunfire and shattering glass pierce through the air with astonishing realism. Directionals are impressive and surrounds are carried out appropriately. It’s a big, grand track the really helps pull you into this non stop action thrill ride of a film.

Where the disc does let down is in the special features. What we get is the following:

Audio Commentary

Executing the Heist: The Making of Takers

Take Action!

Music Promo

Previews for additional Sony titles.

BD-Live.

MovieIQ.

As you can probably tell, the only things worth watching are the Executing The Heist and Take Action features. Neither are very long as they both run for about 10 minutes. Executing the Heist is a very run of the mill behind the scenes piece. It’s more of a promotional piece than anything and it’s really nothing special. Watch it if you want but if you decide to skip it you won’t miss much.

The next feature, Take Action, is actually pretty good, despite the short runtime. It looks at some of the big stunts and action scenes in the film and shows how they were done. I enjoyed it and I wish it had been a bit longer. Also, if you’re a fan of commentaries, the one found here features Director John Luessenhop and Producers Will Packer, Jason Geter, and T.I. It’s a pretty good listen, despite a few quiet points. Worth a listen though if you enjoyed the film.

When all is said and done, I really enjoyed Takers. It’s a very entertaining film and oozes with style. The cast exemplifies the word ‘cool’ and the action scenes are fantastic, especially the chase scene with Chris Brown. The film looks great on Blu-Ray and despite the poor special features, I’d still recommend a purchase for this one.